A break in the drought
A quick break in the posting drought…
I’ve fallen woefully behind in my reporting on the materials that I’ve received by being a delegate to the upcoming LCMS national convention. I apologize to any/all who have missed my commentary.
Frankly, I’ve gotten a bit beaten down & discouraged by the barrage of materials, particularly those coming from the left (i.e., TBNJFPAC). I can sort of accept their blatant politicking when it’s issues-based. I don’t agree with their take on the issues, or with their recommendations for voting, but good on them for being organized enough to get their message out in such an organized way to take advantage of our synodical polity. What I don’t like is the ugly turn that several TBNJFPAC newsletters have taken in specifically running down good, faithful men & organizations by name. Talk up your own side. Let the reader read between the lines (without telling them to do so!). But there’s no need to go negative & explicit against the other side..
Rev. Paul Beisel has written two good postings dealing with his thoughts & feelings on being a delegate. His words & thoughts echo my own, and he expresses them better than I might. So I’ll just direct you to post#1 & post#2…
I’m still watching realitytv. So You Think You Can Dance is, I think, both my favorite AND the best realitytv show out there. American Idol’s younger sibling has better contestants, better judges, a better host, and a much better format than does the 800lb AI behemoth. It is, for me, clearly superior on every level. Last Comic Standing is ok, and it looks to be better than last summer’s installment. America’s Got Talent is a train wreck that I just cannot turn my eyes from, despite the fact that it’s a chore to watch, and that I feel vaguely ashamed after I’ve watched it.
After some time to process it, I think that the final episode of The Sopranos was actually pretty good, and did the job that it was supposed to do. As long as Tony is dead, that is. If there ends up being a movie at some point, and that Tony is alive… well, then, I will have to go on record as stating that the finale sucked, and that David Chase was/is/will be a sell-out hack.
The MacBook Pro is running great, and is just a treat to use, and the family is adjusting nicely to the iMac. Apple is cool. Read FSJ.
I’m still fully in the throes of blog software angst. Wordpress just released another upgrade made mandatory by a security flaw bust. I’m bored with Wordpress even as I’m seduced by all of the things that it can easily do (either stock or via it’s easy to use plugins & theme designs). Plus, I’ve been using it for almost 4 years, so I pretty much “get” how it works. But it just doesn’t “grab” me anymore. That it’s a largely subjective thing (with some objective stuff like security & “under-the-hood” design thrown in), I’m more than willing to admit. Even so, I’m still feeling compelled to seek out an alternative. I just don’t yet know what it could/should/might be…
Plus, there’s also work/resume stuff going on, and I’m just not going to get into that in any type of detail. Suffice it to say that it’s adding to the volatile mix that’s swirling in my mind.
Enough.
That’s the current status.
If you have any questions that you care to ask, please do so. I’ll most likely answer them…
-ghp
Wireless Costless
Well, it was a good news/bad news kinda deal…
Good news: I figured out both what was wrong with the iMac’s wireless connectivity, and how to deal with it such that I didn’t have to drill holes or take the iMac in for repairs.
Bad news: It wasn’t cost-free.
In short, the Airport (wireless) card in the iMac is dead. I tried pretty much everything I could find to try at Apple’s support site, and I couldn’t get it jolted back into working. Unfortunately, beyond RAM upgrades, the iMac isn’t really something that I want to try and crack open in order to make sure that something just didn’t come unseated. And I really didn’t want to take the time/money/risk of taking it into the Apple Store (in Chicago) in order for them to check it out. I didn’t get the AppleCare with it, and it’s been about 15 months since I got it, so it’s out of warranty.
Since the wired NIC works without a problem (heck, I couldn’t even hazard a guess as to when then Airport card died, as I haven’t even tried to use it for months…), I set out to figure out a way to see if I could leverage my existing wireless network. This, then, is where I met with some success. Apple has made it quite easy to link two (or more) Airport base stations together into an extended-range single wireless network. So, all I had to do was go out & plunk down some coin for a new Airport Extreme.
Eh, after deciding to take the plunge & get the full MacBook Pro monty, what’s another $180 in order to see my grand vision come to fruition, right? In for a penny, in for a pound!
So, I was able to set up the new, better-featured, Airport Extreme as the main base station, and I relegated the older one to be the relay station and, more importantly, the iMac’s link into the wireless network.
Everything is now working as it should — the family is getting adjusted to using the iMac, and I’ve got my MBP setup going, including having the 19″ ViewSonic LCD monitor from the now dismantled virus/malware magnet, er, Windows box running as a second display alongside the MBP. It’s pretty cool to have a 1280×1024 display to complement & expand the workspace provided by the MBP’s 1440×900 display.
All’s well that ends well, I guess…
-ghp
It’s that time of year
Yes, it’s that time of year already — Summer — time for me to not feel like blogging as much, and for me to have my annual state of angst wrt my blogging platform. It was almost exactly a year ago that I began the last excursion into exploration & evaluation…
For some reason, once again this year, I’m feeling ambivalent towards Wordpress. Version 2.2 was released about a month ago, and I still haven’t upgraded. I’m feeling like my current installation (including my template/design) is overly bloated & top-heavy with cruft, in the form of too many plugins & too much stuff/junk installed. Junk that just doesn’t serve any real, functional purpose.
One thing that’s also different this year is that I’m not feeling overly attached to the 850+ posts that I currently have in the archives. Being tied to having those posts available severely restricts my options & flexibility, and I’m very much leaning towards making a clean break & starting over. Or, if I decide to stay with Wordpress, at the very least going through & deleting some of the more superfluous entries, so that I’m left with a more solid & useful archive.
Right now, I’ve worked my way into a (all too common) bit of a frenzy, having installed instances of the following so that I can play around with & evaluate them:
- Wordpress 2.2 - clean install
- b2evolution
- Nucleus
- Serendipity
- Movable Type 4 (beta)
- Textpattern
There are pluses & minuses to all of them, and I’m still working through in my head exactly what I want out of a blogging engine this go-around. Much of what I wrote last year will still apply (but I’ve got to go and re-read it, so that I can get an idea about what, if anything, has changed…).
[Note to TK: Don't worry, this won't have any real effect on Katie's Beer --- as long as you want to keep it like it currently is, you've got it. You won't need to worry about changing unless/until you decide you want to...]
-ghp
ETA: 6/12
Soon to arrive at Schloß TB:
A brand spanking new 15″ MacBook Pro!
Side benefit #1: It’s coming with a free 4gb iPod Nano (silver, natch…)
Side benefit #2: Schloß TB will now officially be an all-Mac shop, as the orneriness & age of the last Windows box prompted this upgrade.
I’m giddy with excitement…
-ghp
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